Conventional audio mixing consoles typically employ a plurality of slide controls, commonly referred to as faders, to control the audio level of one or more signal channels. The position of a control knob of the fader generally controls an output, which is typically an electrical signal. Conventional faders typically employ a carbon track to detect the position of the control knob. A conventional mixer may employ faders which are user controlled (e.g., non-motorized) or automatically controlled (e.g., motorized faders). Motorized faders may be controlled by providing an electric drive signal to a motor to adjust the position of a control knob. Similar to non-motorized faders, these faders may additionally be positioned by a user.
A drawback of conventional carbon track potentiometer faders is the limited operating life of these faders due to contamination of the carbon tracks. The carbon tracks may be contaminated by all types of debris, such as dust, liquid, etc. Debris typically enters through the control slot of the fader. As a result, mechanical operating life of these conventional control devices may be greatly reduced. Further, typical carbon track faders are rated as having a lifespan of 10,000 cycles if the carbon track does not become contaminated.
One attempted solution to avoiding contamination of carbon track fader designs is to rotate the body of the fader so that dust and/or other contaminating debris do not fall directly on a carbon track. Another approach is to employ conductive plastic tracks which may be more resilient to debris in comparison to carbon track faders. However, these designs are either expensive, as in the example of conductive plastic track designs, and/or can limit the mechanical “feel” (e.g., stability, side-to-side wobble, etc.) associated with the fader control knob. The feel and/or ease of operation of a fader may directly define the overall quality of an audio mixer to a buyer or user. Consumer success of audio consoles may be based, at least in part, on perceived quality associated with the mechanical feel of the faders. Accordingly, it is desired to provide a fader with extended operating life that does not diminish the “feel” of the fader over time and with use.
Another drawback of conventional faders relates to the design of motorized drive systems. For example, micro drive belt and tuner cord controlled devices used by conventional motorized faders may limit the operating life of a fader. With use over time, these drive mechanisms may fail and/or require maintenance.
Therefore, what is needed is an improved control device design which overcomes one or more drawbacks of conventional fader designs.